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Frugal Weekend

July 5th, 2008 at 09:01 pm

Yesterday we did try for the THIRD time to go to our fave (albeit upscale) restaurant.

We fed the kids first. Dh called to see when lunch was and no one answered, so he fed him (it was like 12:10). I rolled my eyes since obviously they would have fed them. lunch starts at 12, we thought anyway, but it lasts longer than 5 minutes. LOL.

Though I wouldn't have bothered, I Was glad dh did, saved us $5 or so for a couple of kiddie meals at the kiddie care place.

Anyway, we went to drop off the fed kids and the place was CLOSED. LOL. I thought third time may be the charm.

AT that point I Was ready to just take the kids with us. Which is fine, particularly since they were full; we wouldn't feel pressured to buy them an expensive meal. They do rather well in the restaurants though then again they may be extra bored if not eating.

So dh talked me into Panera instead. I was provided a couple of meals there, for work, and it was awesome. I just mentioned to dh and he had spotted it near our house, so seemed appropriate.

Of course we parked and dh could spot all the way across the parking lot that this new Indian cafe was open. We went over and I Was very impressed. We had a little place open up a while ago that was really so-so. Dh didn't ask for HOT, so his was rather bland, but all my food was rather good. It has lots of potential. For its second day open it seemed to do okay. Keeping fingers crossed.

The kids even ate a lot of our food - which was a great sign.

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In the evening we went to watch fireworks at the mall. It's just a few minutes away and the whole thing was free. We had a spectacular view, but were far enough away that LM was not scared at all.

Success!

We should have just stayed home, though I guess I was glad to be out. There was a large pyrotechnic show right in front of our house.

I think I can quote dh as saying, "Glad that's not our street" when we passed some families with some tame sparklers. No, our street, in front of our house was THE show. LOL.

I have 2 issues with fireworks.

1 - Since they were illegal where we used to live (& the law largely respected and/or enforced) all I have ever known is "Fireworks are band and dangerous." So I don't much like them.

2 - I can realize I am a bit of a wet blanket, but I think in these newer developments they really should be largely illegal. The streets are rather narrow and the houses really close together. I Was really uncomfortable with a lot of the fireworks going on. I have no idea what is legal or illegal. But stuff shooting up into the sky with not a lot of room, was not very pleasant for me.

So I am just glad the house is still standing.

The plus (I can say now that I know my house is still standing) is we saw quite a show from our driveway. Guess we didn't have to waste the gas...

Anyway, I guess it is a conundrum, because you think why not set them off in a parking lot? Probably illegal. Private property... But it's not a "NIMB" thing. It's a "you need some more room" thing.

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This morning dh went to a garage sale to scope out some Nintendo stuff.

He game home with a brand new boxed set of Dominoes for $1. Really nice!

I had been wanting them, but I think he was on the fence. He said they were $2 and he hesitated because he was thinking he didn't want to spend that much for them, but didn't want to offer less since it was new and shrink wrapped and all that. The seller noticed his hesitation and said they'd take $1. A reminder that it never hurts to ask. The worst they could have said was no.

I've been wanting them and they easily run $15 brand new. So, woohoo!

Funny thing is I thought it would be a long time before we could do a lot of games with the kids (besides Candy Land and the like, which I find brain numbing). But I think they will enjoy dominoes.

Reminds me, I also downloaded a free version of Rummikub on my computer. Now I am in trouble... (I think it's "Cub Rummy" if any of you want to try. Warning: Addictive)

Oh yeah, Friday the kids went to a garage sale and came back with an aircraft carrier, with their birthday money. It came with a bunch of jets and was REALLY cool. $4 for all that and $4 birthday money still left.

The nice thing is they are actually sharing it well. LOL.

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I cleaned the living room and dining room. As usual, started easy. Which means I broke down a PILE of boxes I had been keeping for ebay and such. We just don't need them all. So I put about 20 boxes in the recycle bin. Still have around 10 we may or may not use.

I am impressed they all fit in the bin.

I also went through the coat rack and all the shoes on the floor - found quite a few old/too small shoes, jackets, and hats.

On top of what I had already pulled in recent weeks/months I now have 3 large bags for Goodwill. Hopefully dh can drop them off this week.

I am thinking for my de-cluttering mission (which is VERY ongoing - feels like it will never end at times. !!)... I am thinking that we will do the obvious, which I have already done much of downstairs and in the kids' rooms. I have to go through my closet and bedroom (which does admittedly have a lot of stuff. Particularly since our closet is the size of a bedroom - don't ask me why. We don't particularly like it. & I admit we do well since the floor is largely empty. But we still have a lot of stuff in there along the walls. I have a dresser and a chest just full of stuff, to go through. It's easy to fill the perimeter of the closet up real fast).

But once I go through and purge the stuff I have been meaning to get rid of forever, or that is so obviously useless or outgrown, etc. I would like to go through just every nook and cranny of the house. It may take a year. Maybe longer. I just feel like every nook and cranny needs to be scrutinized.

I also hope we can keep up this momentum. When we buy new things/replace things, we immediately purge of the old. That is what we are trying to do anyway.

We have always been GREAT at this with the kids' stuff. Very conscientious that we don't want piles of kid crap everywhere. We realize as we double the size of our family, we are very intent on keeping that under control.

I am afraid as we have been very cautious with their belongings, we have largely ignored our own. So we are trying to be better and practice what we preach a little more.

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This morning I went to the gym (took LM because he has wanted to play in the play room there), and it is warm enough we may go swimming later today.

Tomorrow we go to the zoo for LM's birthday.

In between it all I have a house to clean.

Will probably work on the kitchen today and hope the boys can contain themselves for a week. Probably lots of last minute/spot cleaning Friday, unfortunately, for the kids' party.

I rarely clean because it just gets all messed up again. Such is life with kids. & husbands. Dh is great for the most part, but not with basic keeping the house clean. But yeah, I have far more time this weekend so I am working hard and will have to fight all week to maintain it I guess. But trying to get the hard work and elbow grease in this week.

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So yeah, splurged on lunch, but saved on the childcare.

Will spend a few dollars at the zoo (& some decent gas). $5 garage sales.

Not a lot of cash outflow otherwise. Plenty to do close to home.











3 Responses to “Frugal Weekend”

  1. fern Says:
    1215297149

    I'm with you on the fireworks. In CT, anything but sparklers is illegal, meaning anything that is hurled in the air or goes "boom" is illegal, but my neighbors directly across the street do a big show every single year since they moved here. The houses on that side of the street are fairly close together, maybe 1/2 acre lots. I don't think it's appropriate for a residential neighborhood, and more importantly, i think it's inconsiderate to subject your neighbors and their poor animals to an hour of jumping through your skin. I keep saying i'm going to call the cops but i haven't yet. This year my neighbors on 3 sides of me were doing fireworks so i felt rather besieged.

  2. monkeymama Says:
    1215301129

    Fern -ugh - our lots are 1/10 acre.

    At least the street is public and adds some room, but you could barely drive 2 cars past each other on the street, so gives you idea just how much room there is to light fireworks. Plus with the party, the streets were lined with cars, which left LITTLE room.

    Granted there are some developments nearby that are much smaller lots and streets. I wonder if those people think twice.

    Well, glad I am not the only wet blanket. LOL.

  3. frugaltexan75 Says:
    1215318121

    At the apartment complex where I live, there were fireworks going off until about 2 a.m. on the 4th RIGHT outside my window. I was *very* tempted to call the police - there is supposedly a noise ordinance after 10 p.m. I LOVE fireworks, just not outside my window till all hours of the night!

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